EPA lists noisiest areas

By Jake Chung / Staff writer, with CNA

Tue, Nov 27, 2012 - Page 3

The top three noisiest roads in the nation are Provincial Highway No. 66, Fengbi Tunnel l (鳳鼻隧道) in Hsinchu and the Chenggong Road intersection in Greater Tainan, the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) said yesterday.

Listing the top 10 roads or intersections in terms of noise levels, the agency said that the 0.2km section of Provincial Highway No. 66 in Taoyuan County was the noisiest, followed by the northbound Provincial Highway No. 15 running through the Fengbi Tunnel in Sinfong Township (新豐), Hsinchu, and the Chenggong Road intersection near the Greater Tainan railway station.

In fourth place was the area right in front of Zhuzihu (竹子湖) police station in Taipei’s Beitou District (北投), the area in front of No. 218 Wende Road in Taipei’s Neihu District (內湖), the area around Qing Tan Elementary School in New Taipei City’s (新北市) Sindian District (新店), the Cingshuei Rest Station (清水) in Greater Taichung, Erren Road in Greater Tainan’s Rende District (仁德), the parking lot of the Changhua County Public Health Bureau and the first local-express lane of Provincial Highway No. 63 passing through Nantou County’s Caotun Township (草屯).

Hsieh Yen-ju (謝燕儒), head of the EPA’s air quality protection and noise pollution control department, said that all 10 shared the same characteristic of being flat, open roads.

Since May, the agency had asked its branches across the nation to cooperate with local police and the Department of Motor Vehicles to locate and reduce noise pollution, it said.

From then until the end of September, the three task forces had visited 254 locations and pulled over 7,027 cars, of which 398 did not meet the noise pollution standards, the agency said.

In terms of city and county rankings, Taipei chalked up the highest number of noise pollution tests failures, followed by Greater Tainan, Greater Kaohsiung, New Taipei City and Changhua County, the EPA said. The five cities and counties accounted for 65 percent of all violations, it said.